4 ms·

Wait til they learn about nitrogen trifluoride and silicon hexafluoride.

lmilcin 5y ago
Wait till they learn about methane. It is respectable 100 times more potent than CO2 and it is produced naturally in vast quantities in thawing permafrost. It is ironic that the biggest producer of greenhouse gasses will soon be Siberia.
- gambiting 5y ago
  At least methane has a very short life in the atmosphere. N2O and these other gases last hundreds of years before breaking down.
  - lmilcin 5y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions Quote: They conclude that "release of up to 50 Gt of predicted amount of hydrate storage [is] highly possible for abrupt release at any time" See... there is a big bomb right over there. Methane might be 10 times less potent and it might be decaying couple of times faster, but there are many orders of magnitude more of it.
  - tremon 5y ago
    That's only partly true, since methane in the atmosphere decomposes into CO2. The methane itself causes a short powerful greenhouse effect, then decays into another long-term greenhouse gas.
  - pfdietz 5y ago
    SF6 doesn't even break down in the stratosphere. You have to get up to the mesosphere. Estimated atmospheric lifetime is 3200 years, GWP over 23000.
- ben_w 5y ago
  N2O is about x10 worse per unit over 100 years: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warmin...
  - lmilcin 5y ago
    N2O is produced by people and we have choice to turn that production off or at least limit it. We can't control production of methane anymore.
    - ben_w 5y ago
      We can greatly reduce production of methane, even if not eliminate it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions
      - lmilcin 5y ago
        Have you understood what I wrote? Methane is being emitted in a natural process from thawing permafrost. There are vast quantities of organic matter that has been frozen for thousands of years and is now starting getting eaten by bacteria that produce methane. All human-made emissions pale in comparison to natural process. There is no way to turn it off unless you can build a giant AC unit over entire arctic or maybe you can dig entire siberian soil and send it to Mars.
        Zababa 5y ago
        > There is no way to turn it off unless you can build a giant AC unit over entire arctic or maybe you can dig entire siberian soil and send it to Mars. Not realistic but you could dig part of the soil and put it somewhere sealed, and periodically compress the methane and store it into something.
        mnw21cam 5y ago
        Do you realise how big Siberia is?
skissane 5y ago
I think you meant to say sulfur hexafluoride, not silicon hexafluoride. SF6 is the most potent known greenhouse gas. SiF6 is an ion of hexafluorosilicic acid and its salts (the hexafluorosilicates).
deleted 5y ago
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kumarski 5y ago
Sulfur hexafluoride, sorry it was late. Mistyped.

Wait till they learn about methane. It is respectable 100 times more potent than CO2 and it is produced naturally in vast quantities in thawing permafrost. It is ironic that the biggest producer of greenhouse gasses will soon be Siberia.

gambiting 5y ago
At least methane has a very short life in the atmosphere. N2O and these other gases last hundreds of years before breaking down.
- lmilcin 5y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions Quote: They conclude that "release of up to 50 Gt of predicted amount of hydrate storage [is] highly possible for abrupt release at any time" See... there is a big bomb right over there. Methane might be 10 times less potent and it might be decaying couple of times faster, but there are many orders of magnitude more of it.
- tremon 5y ago
  That's only partly true, since methane in the atmosphere decomposes into CO2. The methane itself causes a short powerful greenhouse effect, then decays into another long-term greenhouse gas.
- pfdietz 5y ago
  SF6 doesn't even break down in the stratosphere. You have to get up to the mesosphere. Estimated atmospheric lifetime is 3200 years, GWP over 23000.
ben_w 5y ago
N2O is about x10 worse per unit over 100 years: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warmin...
- lmilcin 5y ago
  N2O is produced by people and we have choice to turn that production off or at least limit it. We can't control production of methane anymore.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    We can greatly reduce production of methane, even if not eliminate it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions
    - lmilcin 5y ago
      Have you understood what I wrote? Methane is being emitted in a natural process from thawing permafrost. There are vast quantities of organic matter that has been frozen for thousands of years and is now starting getting eaten by bacteria that produce methane. All human-made emissions pale in comparison to natural process. There is no way to turn it off unless you can build a giant AC unit over entire arctic or maybe you can dig entire siberian soil and send it to Mars.
      - Zababa 5y ago
        > There is no way to turn it off unless you can build a giant AC unit over entire arctic or maybe you can dig entire siberian soil and send it to Mars. Not realistic but you could dig part of the soil and put it somewhere sealed, and periodically compress the methane and store it into something.
        mnw21cam 5y ago
        Do you realise how big Siberia is?

skissane 5y ago

I think you meant to say sulfur hexafluoride, not silicon hexafluoride. SF6 is the most potent known greenhouse gas. SiF6 is an ion of hexafluorosilicic acid and its salts (the hexafluorosilicates).

deleted 5y ago

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kumarski 5y ago

Sulfur hexafluoride, sorry it was late. Mistyped.